Loom shuttle binder having replaceable binder leather



Oct- 12 1965 G. F. LEAGUE 3,211,185

LOOM SHUTTLE BINDER HAVING REPLACEABLE BINDER LEATHER Filed July 8, 1963 INVENTOR.

GEORGE F LEAGUE @xi a@ ATTORNEY United States Patent O 3,211,185 LGOM SHUTTLE BINDER HAVING REPLACEABLE BINDER LEATHER George F. League, d Summit Drive, Greenville, S.C. Filed .luly 8, 1963, Ser. No. 293,402 2 Claims. (Cl. 139-185) This invention relates to cushioned shuttle binders for looms and particularly to an improved shuttle binder provided with means by which the binder leather may be replaced without having to replace the cushion element.

During weaving the shuttle binder performs the function of resiliently confining the shuttle against the face plate of the shuttle box. When the shuttle enters the box there is an initial point of impact between the binder leather, which covers the binder, and the shuttle. The shuttle binder is moved laterally against the force of a relatively stiff spring as the shuttle is gradually checked. The binder leather suffers wear and damage, particularly at the point of impact, from the repeated engagements between the shuttle and the binder leather. Consequently, it is necessary to periodically replace the binder leather.

In order to reduce wear on the binder leather and to prevent damage to the shuttle itself, it has been the practice to employ a single strip, a plurality of strips or pads of resilient material as a cushion between the binder leather and the binder surface against which the leather would otherwise rest. Cork, closed cell rubber, open cell rubber and mixtures of such resilients materials have been used as cushioning. irrespective of the paticular resilient material employed between the leather and the binder surface however, a strong adhesive is usually employed between the binder leather and the resilient material and between the resilient material and the binder surface. For this reason it has been necessary when replacing the binder leather to also replace the resilient material since the resilient material is normally damaged when any attempt is made to separate it from the binder leather particularly after the binder leather has been in long use. That is, heretofore it has been impractical to replace the binder leather by itself when employed with a cushion material since both the leather and cushion material have had to be replaced together. This has been particularly true with respect to open cell sponge rubber which has proven to have less compression set and a higher resistance to heat than other resilient materials but which has also been shown to be easily damaged when separated from the binder leather after having been glued together for a long period of operation.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved cushioning arrangement between the binder body and the binder leather.

Another object is to provide a cushioning arrangement which allows the binder leather to be replaced without requiring other elements of the cushioning arrangement to be replaced.

Another object is to provide improved means for distributing the impact of the shuttle over the cushioning means.

Another object is to provide means by which open cell, sponge like rubber may be employed as a relatively permanent binder cushioning element in combination with a replaceable binder leather element.

Another object is to provide a binder cushioning arrangement which adapts itself to either light weight or heavy weight shuttles.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description and the drawings in which an example of the invention is shown and in which:

art cushioning such as circular pads.

FIGURE l is a plan View of a shuttle binder embodying the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a front elevation view of the binder of FIGURE l.

FIGURE 3 is a rear elevation view of the binder of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of the binder of FIGURE l showing the binder leather lifted.

FIGURE 5 is a cross section taken through line 5--5 of FIGURE 2.

Referring to the drawings, there is illustrated a shuttle binder Ztl having the usual biasing spring represented at 2li. The binder 20 is pivoted on a suitable pivot pin, not shown, that operates in the bushing .22. The main body of binder 20 is usually, and is preferably, made of wood and in order to lessen the chance of splitting immediately adjacent bushing 22, a double headed rivet 23 is mounted as shown. On the opposite inner end and on the back face of the binder there is mounted the usual rigid protective pad 24 made of fibre, stiff rubber or the like and which is glued, nailed, stapled, or otherwise fastened to the binder body. Pad 24 engages a member, not shown, for limiting the lateral displacement of the binder when engaged by the shuttle.

The binder 2u is provided on its shuttle engaging or front face with the usual friction and wear member 31, preferably made of leather and usually spoken of as the binder leather. The term binder leather is employed in the sense of referring to this wear member irrespective of whether it is actually made of leather or some other natural or synthetic material. The binder wood is suitably shaped in manufacture such that the front face of the binder wood preferably curves inwardly as at 32, 33 and 34 and outwardly as at 35. The ends of the binder leather are tapered and the front face of the binder leather is substantially straight except where it curves inwardly at the inner end of the binder indicated at 36. The extreme inner end of the binder front face is covered by the pad 37 which is preferably also made of leather and in conjunction with the binder leather 31 provides a wear and friction surface over substantially the whole shuttle impact area. Pad 37 like pad 24 may be glued, nailed, stapled, or otherwise secured to the binder body.

A cushioning means for the binder leather is provided by the cushion member 40. Cushion member 40 should be made of a material capable of withstanding the relatively high temperatures developed in loom operation; it should exhibit a high degree of resiliency; it should exhibit relatively little compression set; and it should be capable of essentially sustained wearless operation under the constant impact of the shuttle. Various closed cell and open cell rubber materials may be employed as well as certain of the plastics. The material may be formed as a single strip, a plurality of strips or in other forms taught by prior It has been found however that a highly suitable cushioning means for the purpose is a single rectangular strip of open cell sponge rubber of 30 to 40 durometer hardness. Such form and material is preferred as the cushioning means for the invention. Thickness of the cushioning is of course determined by the particular loom application and it is desirable to taper the cushioning strip at its ends.

Referring now more directly to the substance of the invention, a relatively thin, iiexible, substantially incompressible (compared to sponge rubber), strap member 41 is located between the cushion 4t) and the binder leather 3l. Strap member 4l. may comprise any material that meets the characteristics set forth and a particularly suitable material has been found to be a vulcanized libre strap of `about l/gg inch thickness. A number of purposes are served by strap member 4l the most important of which is that strap member 41 provides a means for replacing binder leather 31 without disturbing the cushion member 40. Strap member 41 also serves as a means to distribute the impact of the shuttle over a wider area of the -cushion member 40. By providing means to distribute the load over the cushion member 419 it has been found that the cushion material has little tendency to pack and the shuttle is apt to box correctly on each impact without resetting.

Suitable means are provided for causing the member 40 to `adhere to the wood of binder 20, the central portion of strap member 41 to adhere to the cushion member 40, the ends of strap member 41 to adhere to the wood of binder 20, the central portion of binder leather 31 t-o adhere to the strap member 41 and the ends of binder leather -31 to adhere to the strap member 41. All of this is very simply accomplished by gluing the cushion member 40 to the wood of Vbinder 20, gluing the central portion of strap member 41 to the cushion member 40, stapling the ends of strap member 41 to the wood of binder 20, gluing the central portion of binder leather 31 to the strap member 41 and stapling the ends of binder leather 31 to the ends `of strap member 41 with staples that pass through the leather, through the fibre and into the Wood.

iT he kind of glue which is employed between the cushion and the wood and between the fibre and the cushion is not critical except to the extent that it should form a strong bond and should be a-ble to withstand the impact and heat encountered in the loom operation. The kind of glue used between the `binder leather and the bre is however somewhat critical in that an important purpose of the invention is to provide means by which the binder leather can be stripped off by itself and replaced. In prior art binders nothing has been lprovided comparable to the strap member 41 of the present invention and the practice has always been to mount the binder leather directly over the cushion material and to glue the binder leather directly to the cushion material. Consequently, replacement of the binder leather in prior art binders has required replacement of the cushion material since the leather `and cushion material could not be separated without substantial damage to the cushion material. In the present invention it has been found that by using a rubber latex type of glue between the binder leather 31 and the strap member 41, the binder leather 31 can be peeled off the Strap member 41 as illustrated by FIGURE 4 and replaced without damage to the strap member 41 or to the cushion member 40.Y

The binder leather recovering operation yon a binder employing the present invention requires only that the staples be removed from the ends of the binder leather 31 and the binder leather 31 peeled off the strap member 41, Some small bits of leather such as represented at 50 may adhere to the strap member 41 however these are readily removable with a few strokes of sandpaper or a le. After the old binder leather has been removed a new application ot the rubber latex glue is made to the exposed surface of strap member 41, the new replacement binder leather is positioned and the binder leather ends are stapled in place. This entire operation can be performed in a very short time and it of course does not disturb the cushioning material in any Way. Thus, the cushioning material can be used over a long period of time even though the binder leather covering such cushioning material might have been replaced several times during the same period.

Even though glue is generally considered to 'be essential for holding the variou-s elements in place, other fastening means might be employed for the cushion, strap element and binder leather. So long as the strap element is provided between the binder leather and the cushion element it is of course apparent that the strap element will serve as a protection for the cushion and as a means for distributing impact forces over the cushion. 'lfhat is, while the greatest advantage of the strap element is that it provides a means for allowing a glued binder leather to be replaced, other advantages arise even where the binder leather is not glued in place.

'While a specitic embodiment has been shown it is apparent that the basic concept which is believed to be novel namely the concept of providing a protective and force distributing strap member between the `binder leather and the cushioning material may lbe carried out in other ways. For example, the strap element and cushion may be formed as `an integral unit with the strap element bonded somewhat like a thick tough skin over the surface of the cushion material. In this regard there is available on the market and vsuitable to the invention a vinyl plastic resilient sponge material of around 30 to 40 durometer hardness with a relatively thin non-resilient, tough vinyl back bonded to the sponge. As heretofore mentioned, the various elements need not necessarily be glued together `so long as some means is provided to keep them properly positioned during use. The cushion element may be located in a hollow insert carved in the binder wood as shown in prior art patents or it may be located on wooden pegs passing partially into the cushion material as also shown in the prior art. The ends of the elements may be held in place by screws or the like as illustrated in various other prior art patents concerned with replacement of binder elements. Various materials meeting the characteristics set forth may ybe employed.

Having described the invention what is claimed is:

1. In a loom shuttle binder, an elongated solid tapered body having on the side thereof adapted to Contact the shuttle a smooth curved rectangular face free of receptacle, recess, kerf formations and the like; a rst solid rectangular strip of resilient cushioning material substantially covering and permanently secured to a -major portion of said face and having tapered ends so that said strip forms a smooth surface with said face, said cushioning material being .adapted to withstand successive impacts of said shuttle; a second thin flexible solid rectangular strip substantially permanently secured to and entirely covering said rst strip, said second strip being constructed of a material adapted to withstand and distribute said `successive impacts and of substantially less compressibility than said cushioning material; and a third rectangular binder leather strip releasably and adhesively secured to and entirely covering said second strip and having its ends tapered and releasably secured to said body, said third strip thereby being separable from said second strip `after extensive wear without disturbing said first strip.

2. In a loom shuttle binder as claimed in claim 1 including a rubber latex adhesive releasably and adhesively securing said third strip to said second strip and in which said second strip material comprises vulcanized ber.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,472,296 10/23 Emmons 139-186 1,956,076 4/34 Lindsjo 139-185 1,991,144 2/35 Ferle et al. 139-185 2,120,144 6/38 Emmons 139-185 2,399,851 5/46 Brown 139-185 2,475,943 7/49 Chouinard 139-185 3,010,483 11/61 Pruitt et al. 139-185 FOREIGN PATENTS 721,546 1/55 Great Britain.

OTHER REFERENCES Textile Industries, vol. 126 No. 7, July 1962, page 126.

DONALD W. PARKER, Primary Examiner. 

1. IN A LOOM SHUTTLE BINDER, AN ELONGATED SOLID TAPERED BODY HAVING ON THE SIDE THEREOF ADAPTED TO CONTACT THE SHUTTLE A SMOOTH CURVED RECTANGULAR FACE FREE OF RECEPTACLE, RECESS, KERF FORMATIONS AND THE LIKE; A FIRST SOLID RECTANGULAR STRIP OF RESILIENT CUSHIONING MATERIAL SUBSTANTIALLY COVERING AND PERMANENTLY SECURED TO A MAJOR PORTION OF SAID FACE AND HAVING TAPERED ENDS SO THAT SAID STRIP FORMS A SMOOTH SURFACE WITH SAID FACE, SAID CUSHIONING MATERIAL BEING ADAPTED TO WITHSTAND SUCCESSIVE IMPACTS OF SAID SHUTTLE; A SECOND THIN FLEXIBLE SOLID RECTANGULAR STRIP SUBSTANTIALLY PERMANENTLY SECURED TO AND ENTIRELY COVERING SAID FIRST STRIP, SAID SECOND STRIP BEING CONSTRUCTED OF A MATERIAL ADAPTED TO WITHSTAND AND DISTRIBUTE SAID SUCCESSIVE IMPACTS AND OF SUBSTANTIALLY LESS COMPRESSIBILITY THAN SAID CUSHIONING MATERIAL; AND A THIRD RECTANGULAR BINDER LEATHER STRIP RELEASABLY AND ADHESIVELY SECURED TO AND ENTIRELY COVERING SAID SECOND STRIP AND HAVING ITS ENDS TAPERED AND RELEASABLY SECURED TO SAID BODY, SAID THIRD STRIP THEREBY BEING SEPARABLE FROM SAID SECOND STRIP AFTER EXTENSIVE WEAR WITHOUT DISTURBING SAID FIRST STRIP. 